Grinning Studios: Super Bowl Street Interviews - Japan!

Recently while talking to my good friend Linh Vien Thai, he gave me a great idea for a video.  Since the Super Bowl was coming up, he suggested that I walk the streets and ask random people about it. The only problem I had was how to do the video.  I decided to spend as little money as possible, because I have no money, and use my iPhone video recording.

The problem with recording video on the iPhone is the sound.  I only had my headphone mic that comes with the iPone and it was too sensitive.

I went to a K's Denki and was assisted by Kawasaki Norio. He helped me find a video camera microphone that worked on my iPone.  A great guy, and if anyone needs any assistance in Shibata at K's Denki, I suggest finding Mr. Kawasaki Norio.

To the left is a pic you can use to find him.  Tell him Grin sent you.

Having a microphone presented a new challenge. The type of microphone I purchased was very small and had a clip to pin it to your clothing.  I needed some sort of handle to allow me to point it when people were talking. I thought to find some piece of wood or something at the home store next door, but everything they had was characterless and expensive. I thought about buying a spatula and using that as a microphone handle, which would have been funny, but may have freaked out my interviewees a bit.

At last, I came to a 100 yen store and they had the solution!  Pika Pika bou!  Or shiny, sparkling stick.  The ladies at the register even gave me a paperclip so that I could pin the microphone to the tip.

With my new video recording, and interview equipment ready to go, I left for Niigata Station.  Near the station is an "everything" store called Don Kihote.  The best part about this place is, if you buy anything, you can have free parking for up to 2 hours.  Having bought my gum and validated my parking ticket, I set off to interview hapless victims of Super Bowl Ignorance.

I started off in the Don Kihote lobby, then headed to the station, then out towards Bandai and ended at a place called Gioia Mia.  Gioia Mia had an Open mic night hosted by Martyn Pratt. He's the last interview in the video.

During my walk about, I met some interesting people and had a great time.  Even though I could only just barely feel my hands at times, it was definitely worth braving the cold. I hope you like the video as much as I liked making it.  Cheers: for the Super Bowl!